A/N: This chapter takes place simultaneously alongside Sweet Cruelty chapter 31. I've never written a dialogue-heavy chapter before. Let me know what you think.

"Stay away from him, you bitch!"

An unseen force knocks her off her feet and sends her crashing into the bricked wall. Caroline throws her head back and snarls at the intruder. This human radiates strength yet there is a draft of fear coming from the dark-skinned brunette. The darkness creeps up to her, whispering of sweet unbridled temptation and power.

Struggling to regain her stance, Caroline picks up a set of familiar footsteps approaching and a velvety voice that could only belong to that one person. "Stay back, Bon Bon. I'll handle it. It looks like a stray vampire's wandered to town."

It's difficult to stand when the human - witch has her in some sort of bind. Cold fingers grab fistfuls of hair, easily hauling her up. "Lady, you just picked the wrong town to mess with."

Caroline straightens up and shoves Damon away in a burst of strength. "No, you did that. What's wrong, Damon?" She mocks at his gobsmacked expression. "Cat got your tongue?"

"Caroline?"

Her head turns and she blinks in confusion. "Bonnie?"

Her friend just stares at her in shock. "How- how are you a… That's- that's impossible."

That's the problem, isn't it? Everything is theoretically impossible until it is achieved. It sinks into her brain before she remembers Damon calling Bonnie 'Bon Bon.' Her eyes dart between them with increasing suspicion.

Bonnie and Damon.

Damon and Bonnie. Together.

Why? Why was the world against her? It wasn't fair. How could Bonnie turn her back and date the one person who compelled her and used her whilst still being chummy with her mother. She hated him and Bonnie knew it.

Her lips curl cruelly as Caroline glares at Damon whose expression has turned towards more of annoyance. "Ask him. Your boyfriend smothered me with a pillow. How rude."

You slashed at me with betrayal. I'll parry with vengeance.

She watches the scene unfold with a dark thirst of spite. Her chin juts out as she looks down at Damon, giving him her best condescending glare.

"You killed her?!"

"Ookay. Technically, Blondie's still alive and breathing. She's just a bit undead."

"But she's… a vampire!"

"Uh-uhh. That- that wasn't me. Bon, what are you doing?!"

It has to be the first time Caroline has actually seen Bonnie in action. She hears chanting and turns her head to see a hose unhinging from the nearby tap, spewing water all over the parking lot and all over Damon, effectively soaking him.

"What the he-," Caroline begins and cuts herself off at the sound of sparks and a sudden burst of flames spring up from the line of water, igniting the pavement.

She takes two hasty steps back away and yells at her best friend. "Give a girl a heads up, will ya?"

As soon as the words fly out of her mouth, a sudden burst of fire heads towards her in alarming speed. She yelps and moves away, nearly tripping over her own two feet. "Bonnie, make it stop!"

"I can't- I can't stop the fire," her best friend splutters, jumping away from a stray spark.

Trapped between the line of flames and the side of the car, Caroline could only watch the fire spread in unpredictable bursts, growing in size and direction. "Why does it have to be fire?" She mutters, throwing up her arms defensively to block her face from the fire.

Some of the sparks explode randomly, heading straight for Damon who backs away immediately, patting the flames out from his jacket. "Damn it, Bonnie! This is your fault, Forbes!"

Caroline stares at him in a mixture of anger and disbelief. "How is this my fault? You killed me! You make her stop!"

"No shit! If I could, we wouldn't be stuck here putting out fires," Damon hollers from the other end. "Your mother tried to kill me, thereby making it your fault."

Really?! He was actually going there.

"Seriously."

The fire vanishes all of a sudden, leaving behind the trail of water pooled from the hose. Not taking any chances, Caroline gingerly jumps over the thin streak of water and glances around. Bonnie lies on the ground, unconscious while her head is propped up by the other Salvatore brother.

"If it isn't the heroic dear brother saving the town once again," Damon says from behind her.

"What did you do?"

Stefan replies, "I knocked her out. She'll be fine."

He frowns at her and Caroline realizes she could feel dried blood crusting her mouth and chin.

"You transitioned. How?" Stefan looks at her and then looks past her, his jaw clenching.

"You turned her into a vampire."

She could hear disappointment etching behind Stefan's words.

"Not you too. She was supposed to stay dead. I didn't turn her," Damon growls in annoyance.

"And I'm supposed to what, just believe you're the innocent party here?" Stefan retorts.

"Yes, Stefan. I thought we're brothers. You're supposed to be on my side," Damon bemoans, throwing his hands up dramatically. "Think about it. Why would I want to turn Miss Meryl Streep into a freaking vampire when I wanted her dead in the first place?!"

The younger brother turns his gaze onto her, marring his expression in a mixture of confusion and skepticism. "Caroline, what do you last remember?"

She folds her arms and fixates a glare. "Damon killing me."

As patient as ever, Stefan coaxes her softly whilst putting a hand on Damon's shoulder. "Do you remember anything before that?"

"I remember… waking up in a hospital. Everything hurts. There's something wrong with my face," Caroline gasps and squeezes her eyes shut.

She could feel Stefan quieting Damon as he holds her in a comforting embrace. "I know. Hey, look at me. Everything's going to be okay."

"No, she's not!"

"Just ignore him, Caroline. Focus on me."

Caroline wills herself to look at him and she sees the dark veins appearing on his as well. "When you feel the blood rushing, you tell yourself you're going to get through it. That you're strong enough."

I'm not strong. I'm weak and shallow. Nobody wants me.

Her head shakes from side to side but he doesn't stop. "Yes, you are. No matter how good it feels, to give yourself over to it. You fight it off. You bury it," Stefan finishes.

She can hear Damon's scathing voice in the background. "You're a vampire now. You should learn to be like one. Give in to it, Blondie. Don't listen to him."

"Shut up Damon! She needs control."

"She needs to die! And I will finish what I started."

He's really going to kill me. I'm a monster. I shouldn't be allowed to live, but I don't want to die.

The thoughts accelerate through her head like a freight train. She wants them to slow down so she can breathe but they won't. Her breaths come out in short gasps. Her heart hammers inside her rib cage as though it belongs to a rabbit running for its skin.

CRACK.

Caroline hears a pained groan and low cursing, causing her to break away from the cycle of panic encircling her senses. The stake that Damon was going to use on her, has lodged itself embedded in Damon's upper back that looks too close to his heart. Stefan is at her side instantly, helping her up and towards the carnival.

No. I can't go in there. I'll kill them.

"What about Bonnie? We can't leave her here," Caroline finds herself saying.

"She'll be fine. She's not the one he's after," Stefan promises and blurs her away from the parking lot to somewhere quieter. They find a relatively empty picnic table and he sits her down on the bench.

"We should be safe here. Caroline, I need to know. Who else was with you that night?"

His brow furrows in concentration as she begins listing down the list of names that were there. When she mentions she vaguely recalls Elena dropping by, his expression takes on a look of realization. "That wasn't Elena. It was Katherine all along."

Caroline raises an eyebrow. "Of course it was Elena. I know what my best friend looks like. Who's Katherine?"